Eat Your Heart Out!

Just returned from our local classical homeschooling store.  Was actually returning some products from Veritas Press that I had purchased at the convention, but these products were SO horrible and SO substandard that they required me to take them back from whence they had come.  In fact, if any of you are interested in purchasing the Veritas Press early reader books separately, let me just say that I found the four that I had purchased to not only be bad, but horrifyingly bad. 

(I had bought the first four or so for brand new readers.  My set included books about Meg the cat, Saint Patrick, and something like A Cat, a Hat, a Hog, a Log, a Dog and a a big fat Slog or something.  The fourth one I can't recall a thing about.  They were all dreadful.  In fact, in retrospect they were so shockingly bad that I should have typed out an excerpt for you before I returned them so that you also, dear reader, could appreciate how truly awful they are.)

In fact, I *think* these little early reader books are part of the Veritas Press Phonics Museum program.  They were sold individually on a rounder at the convention and I thought what the heck, they're Veritas Press.  My little emerging reader is slogging his way through Bob books so I figured they were a good match.  Well, they weren't just bad, they were HIDEOUSLY bad.  SHOCKINGLY bad.  Especially one that's called something like Pat and the Rat or something like that but was about Saint Patrick.  Wow. 

Anyway, I returned them and purchased:

 

The Latin Centered Curriculum.  Try not to all hate me at once. 

I can't wait to read it, and neither can Mr. Jo's Boys for one nice offshoot of his fleetingly attending the seminary filled with obnoxious people is a rudimentary understanding of Greek and about a zillion dollars worth of Greek educational materials.  Yes, we own each and every Hey Andrew! Teach Me Some Greek!  (yes, all fifteen levels or whatever) and on top of that, we also own a plethora of other Greek educational materials.  We also are chock full of our favorite math program that we've used for the last five years and that we'll use for the next fifteen, and I literally own pretty much every single Latin program ever created, so we're good. 

A quick glance through my new purchase seems to show that we're as behind in Latin as we are ahead in math.  Ah, well. You can't win them all. 

I'll let you know what I think.  But just promise me that you won't tell any random slave drivers that own my soul and all of my waking hours what I'm up to, for this is a product review that I'm taking up all for ME!!  :)

[QUICK UPDATE:  After writing the above, I signed off the computer and walked into the hall, where I found Mr. Jo's Boys sneaking away with the above-referenced brand new book, so that he could read it first.]

[ANOTHER QUICK UPDATE: A hasty perusal of said book revealed no less than two criticisms of Susan Wise Bauer, or at least what LOOKED to be criticisms.  Should this book lampoon Susan Wise Bauer at any point in time, it will be returned also, just like the Veritas Press Readers.  Stay tuned.  And yes, I am that much of a SWB groupie.]

Comments

[Under the Sky]

I found you out. You cannot escape said slave driver. EVER.

:)
ME

[Under the Sky]

Besides...

who could I post nonsensical blog comments to this late at night when I should be reading my smack-me-upside-the-head book so I can get onto what I really want to read--Victorian Literature by Dickens no less.

So THERE. I found you out you LCC reading miscreant.

:) ME

[MamaLynx]

No, no, no!!

Let me 'splain.

SWB is not lampooned in the book. However, those of us who buy into the LCC believe that SWB is wrong on a couple of points.

I still love her. I still owe her a great deal. I still use lots of her ideas and recommendations.

But in my reading and research about classical education, I had to come to disagree with her underlying theory in a couple of areas.

1) She states in TWTM that Latin is not the defining subject of a classical education. Yes, in fact, it *is* the defining subject.

2) I love Dorothy Sayers too, but the Trivium was never meant to be educational stages. It was subjects. Period.

3) TWTM focuses on covering all the bases, giving strong skills AND a wide knowledge base. LCC pares that down, with the idea that from the skills will come the knowledge base.

So no dissin' of the SWB. Just some disagreement, leading to a bit of a different way of doing things.

I didn't write LCC, but I kind of feel at least partially responsible for it

[Crissy]

Jo,
I think you'll find, when you have a chance to spend more time with LCC, that Drew is simply pointing out the differences in their views of a classical education.
I think he even recommended Story of the World, and referenced a few points from The Well Trained Mind.
We'll be combining ideas from both next year, and my boys are looking forward to it.

Crissy